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Filmmaker Les Blank and his frequent odes to Louisiana will be focus of Criterion box set

Les Blank

Les Blank, the acclaimed documentary maker who focused his camera on blues musicians, garlic lovers, and shoe-eating artists, will be the focus of a DVD and Blu-ray box set issued by the Criterion Collection. (AP photo/Harrod Blank)
(AP Photo/Harrod Blank)

Les Blank, the Tulane-educated filmmaker whose documentaries about food and music brought frequent slices of Louisiana life to audiences around the world long before it was cool, is getting the Criterion Collection treatment. The work of Blank, who died in April 2013, will be collected in a box set issued this November by the quality-conscious home-video distributor, Criterion has announced.

In all, digitally restored versions of 14 of Blank's films -- along with eight of his shorts -- will be in the collection, which will be sold as a three-disc Blu-ray set starting Nov. 25. It will also be available as a five-disc DVD set on the same date.

Among the films included will be the 1978 film after which the set is named: "Always for Pleasure," an hourlong documentary about some of New Orleans' more colorful social traditions, including jazz funerals, second-lines, Mardi Gras Indians and crawfish.

Other films of local interest to be included are: 1972's "Spend it All," a 41-minute exploration of Cajun culture; 1973's "Hot Pepper," a 54-minute profile of local "King of Zydeco" Clifton Chenier; 1973's "Dry Wood," a 37-minute, zydeco-infused portrait of black Creole life in the Louisiana Delta; and 1990's 90-minute "Yum, Yum, Yum! A Taste of Creole and Cajun Cooking."

Also in the set will be films with such characteristically colorful titles as "Gap-Toothed Women," "Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers" and "God Respects Us When We Work but Loves Us When We Dance."

"An uncompromisingly independent filmmaker, Les Blank ... made documentaries for nearly 50 years, elegantly disappearing with his camera into cultural spots rarely seen on-screen--mostly on the peripheries of the United States, but also occasionally abroad," Criterion wrote in a news release announcing the set. "Seemingly off-the-cuff yet poetically constructed, these films are humane, sometimes wry, always engaging tributes to musicians, food, and all sorts of regionally specific delights."

Below, find a full list of the contents of the "Always for Pleasure" box set, which carries a suggested retail price of $124 (but which is available for preorder through the Criterion website for $99.96).

The Criterion Collection box set 'Always for Pleasure' will collect 14 films by Les Blank, plus eight shorts, on three Blu-ray discs. It will also be available as a five-DVD set.

Films included

"The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins" (1968)

"God Respects Us When We Work, but Loves Us When We Dance" (1968)

"Spend It All" (1971)

"A Well Spent Life" (1971)

"Dry Wood" (1973)

"Hot Pepper" (1973)

"Always for Pleasure" (1978)

"Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers" (1980)

"Sprout Wings and Fly" (1983)

"In Heaven There Is No Beer?" (1984)

"Gap-Toothed Women" (1987)

"Yum, Yum, Yum" (1990)

"The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists" (1994)

"Sworn to the Drum" (1995)

Special edition features

New 2K digital restorations of all fourteen films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-rays

Excerpt from Les Blank: A Quiet Revelation, an upcoming documentary by Gina Leibrecht